Holy Mole, Ska, way to go

Westword, Denver’s free alternative weekly newspaper, has named Ska Brewing Co.’s Mole Stout one of the 10 best beers to be released in 2012.

The list was limited to beers that were packaged in cans or bottles and readily available in the Denver area.

The author of the list, Jonathan Shikes, ranked Mole Stout the eighth best new beer in the state, writing that Ska “experimented for more than a year on different stout recipes to come up with the series of seasonals that it debuted in cans last fall.

“The first of these was the Autumnal Mole Stout, a rich, chocolatey stout layered over with enough spice to give it a bite without burning your lips.”

First place went to Uncle Jacob’s Stout, brewed by Boulder’s Avery Brewing Co., which, at $12 per 12-ounce bottle, is apparently worth the money because it evokes “vanilla, oak, molasses, butter, bourbon, figs. And that’s just for starters,” Shikes wrote.